Partial dentures are very popular and are used by people throughout the world. A principal advantage of a partial denture is that it gives an individual the option of having an artificial denture but yet permits the patient to retain existing healthy teeth. Because partial dentures are relatively inexpensive, patients can from time to time remove unhealthy existing teeth and obtain a new partial denture that takes into account the present state of the patient's existing teeth. One example of a successful partial denture that has been sold throughout the United States is that found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,115.
It is always a goal of the dentist or denture practitioner to design and fit a denture with maximum comfort to the patient. That is of course important because the denture is continuously worn by the patient and must be functional at all times.
While partial dentures have met with great success over the years and while partial dentures continue to be in high demand, there is one problem or drawback that confronts all designers or builders of partial dentures. That problem or drawback relates to retention and particularly the design concern for providing a partial denture that maintains a precise fit and which is designed in such a fashion that the partial denture is securely retained in the patient's mouth. In this regard, it is not only important to secure the denture in the patient's mouth and stabilize the denture during difficult eating exercises but it is important to provide retention and securement while still maintaining comfort. Too often, designs that assure good securement do not adequately address the patient's concern for comfort.
Therefore, there has and continues to be a need for a partial denture design that provides a design that lends itself to retention and to securement and at the same time imparts maximum comfort to the patient.